Did you know the prosecutors YOU vote for decide: 

• WHEN to bring a case or drop charges? 

• WHO should be held pretrial and who gets to go home? 

• WHAT level of charges and sentences to pursue and what happens during plea bargaining? 

• WHO should be prosecuted?  

These questions and more were answered during two virtual discussions held this week on the wide-ranging roles of prosecutors in the criminal legal system we co-hosted with Players Coalition Charitable Foundation. In case you missed it, we’ve got you covered with this video and explainer infographic. 

In an effort to explain the role prosecutors play and the power WE have in ensuring they are accountable to constituents, we teamed up with our local and national partners to talk about the prosecutor and state attorney races that are fast approaching across the country, including throughout Florida and in Michigan’s two most populated counties, Oakland and Wayne County.  

Because prosecutors often have much greater power than judges and juries in deciding what happens in cases, both events honed in on the role of elected attorneys and the power you have as a voter to vote in progressive leaders -- and vote out those who abuse their power and perpetuate the criminalization of Black and Brown people.  

The Players Coalition Charitable Foundation Orlando State Attorney Race town hall, featured Advancement Project National Office Executive Director Judith Browne Dianis, former NBA Player Marquis Daniels and former NBA Head Coach Stan Van Gundy. We also co-hosted The Power of Prosecutors: Know Before You Vote with our partners Players Coalition, Michigan Liberation, ACLU Michigan, Detroit Justice Center, Metropolitan Organizing Strategy Enabling Strength (MOSES), and Force of Detroit where we highlighted the immense power prosecutors have in shaping the local criminal justice landscape for the next four years. 

Here’s a few quotes from our Know Before You Vote town hall: 

“There should not be prosecutors in the system that just allow cases to get made by officers who are questionable, whose words don’t match up with the evidence. One of the first things they can do is make sure there is additional evidence to corroborate the police version of events.” - Brandy Robinson, Supervising Attorney at Neighborhood Defender Service of Detroit 

“Ninety-seven percent of cases end in plea bargains. That means most of the time prosecutors, rather than judges or juries, are deciding what happens in a case.” - DeJuan Bland, a community organizer at MOSES 

“There are bold people who are willing to take risks in the name of real public safety, and in the name of real community. And soI would encourage people to ask themselves, how do you really think we should be responding to harm? How do you really think we should be addressing community needs?” - Ashley Carter, Advancement Project National Office Senior Staff Attorney

By voting in your local prosecutor election, you have the power to elect prosecutors that are meaningfully committed to ending our crisis of mass incarceration and police violence. GO VOTE! Take a look and share our explainer to learn more about the role of prosecutors.